By Betsy Finklea
A new ministerial alliance has formed in Dillon County called the Dillon County Ministerial Alliance.
The initial meeting of this group took place on January 3rd in the meeting room in the Gibson Building in Dillon.
According to a letter from the County Administrator Tony Clyburn and Community Outreach Coordinator Jamal Campbell, the alliance will be “comprised of local pastors from within and associated with Dillon County. The purpose of forming this alliance is to build a bridge from the pulpit to local government and to further serve the community… there will be a unified effort from our county Administration and Ministerial Alliance to come together and make sure that as leaders, we better serve the citizens of Dillon County.”
At the meeting, Clyburn opened the meeting and stated that they were there for the people in Dillon County and to gain an understanding of what they needed to do to move the county further forward.
The invocation was given by E-911 Director, Clarence “Sonny” McRae.
Clyburn then made remarks. One of the first things he noted was the room that they were in was completely different. The room is the former courtroom that was changed to a meeting room.
He said one of their goals is doing something of which they can be proud. He said the county should have their own room for meetings instead of having to use someone else’s conference room.
Clyburn shared his vision of Dillon County. He said his vision for Dillon County is to help transform the county into a hub of employment and commerce on I-95. He said the county is located between many counties with people who need jobs. He said with the inland port, I-95, and I-20, he doesn’t feel that we are taking advantage of it. He said that he thought that Dillon County could grow in a way that is meaningful and that will allow people to come and rear a family.
Clyburn discussed how to accomplish this.
He said when someone comes to a county to look a possibly locating an industry that they look at everything- the neighborhoods, the businesses, education, how the county treats the less fortunate, and more.
Clyburn said the place needs to be cleaned up. He said they needed to clean up some of these areas with a bunch of abandoned houses. He said there is a great deal of trash on the roads.
Clyburn also spoke about quality of life.
Clyburn said there was a great deal of information floating around about the role of the county administrator’s office. He clarified some points:
1. The county administrator’s office is not responsible for law enforcement. The Sheriff is an elected official who works for the people directly. He said he has a working relation with the Sheriff.
2. The county administrator’s office is not responsible for taxes. The county administration does not assess taxes; he said the county council does this.
3. The county administrator’s office does not pave roads. Roads are paved by SCDOT. There are a number of roads in bad shape.
4. The county administrator’s office doesn’t clean out ditches on state roads.
Here are some things that the county administrator’s office does do:
1. They take care of roads and bridges, clean the right-of-ways, and scrape county roads.
2. They are working with the health department to get them into a new building. They should be in the new building with care South Carolina by 2020. The county provided the land for this facility to be built. He said this is an important service in rural counties.
3. They do the maintenance on buildings including the buildings they lease to state agencies.
4. They are responsible for recreation.
5. They are responsible for animal control.
6. They are responsible for libraries.
7. They assist with voter registration.
8. They are responsible for human resources.
After a brief lunch, discussion continued on issues such as workforce development, education, etc. Contact information for various offices was also given.
The next meeting will be February 28th, at 6:00 p.m. in the second floor conference room of the Gibson Building, located at 200 S. Third Avenue, Dillon. All pastors are invited to attend.
If you would like more information, please contact Jamal Campbell at 910-644-2893 or by email at Jamal_ Campbell24@yahoo.com.